With images of unbeknown, fresh-faced, pop star wannabes gracing the tabloid front pages and a new wave of Cheryl mania, it can only mean one thing: X Factor 2010 is well underway. Whether you are tuning in to admire Cheryl’s LBD, lust over Danni’s new do or simply to watch Simon and Louie attack one another’s acts there is no denying that this year’s X Factor will be keeping many of us glued to our tele over the forthcoming Saturday nights.

Not to be forgotten from past years gone by, we thought it only fitting to revisit some of the acts who made the winters of 2005 – 2008 that bit more bearable. Love them or hate them, there will be a few surprises (and sniggers) when you find out just with what this bunch have been up to….

ANDY ABRAHAM (Came second in 2005)

Nice guy Andy had a busy time after X factor, undertaking 2 tours in 2006, and a third in 2008/2009. After releasing 3 fairly successful albums, he was chosen by the public to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with his track “Even If”. Sadly he came last and has since been trying to salvage his reputation by signing with a new management company, appearing on ‘Live From Studio Five’, raising money for The Childhood Eye Cancer Trust and presenting an award at the 2010 Urban Music Awards. Interestingly, he is joining forces with soul legends Alexander O’Neal, Kenny Thomas and Eddie Holman to perform in 15 UK performances during November and December 2010.

SAME DIFFERENCE (Came third in 2007)

Cringe-worthy sibling duo Sean and Sarah have been regulars on the holiday camp scene entertaining youngsters at Pontins, as well as performing cheesy pop at Pride events including London, Manchester and Cardiff. In August they released single ‘Shine On Forever (Photo Frame)’ which will feature on their second (yes, second!) album to be released in January 2011. One for your diaries, perhaps?

RHYDIAN ROBERTS (Came second in 2007)

Strange but successful Welsh singer Rhydian’s debut album sold 500,000 copies and last year he performed a sell-out UK tour. As well completing a second album, he performed ‘O Fortuna’ at this year’s classical BRIT awards. Rhydian is next set to star in his first musical ‘War of The Worlds – Alive on Stage!’. He will perform in a total of 19 international shows alongside Jason Donovan and Atomic Kitten’s Liz McClarnon, kicking off in Amsterdam in November.

BAD LASHES (Came twelfth in 2008)

This girlband foursome joined just a week before they auditioned on X Factor and sadly were booted off after their first live performance. They are, amazingly, still together with things set to get ‘even crazier’ for them according to their site. Such craziness has so far included switching on Durham’s Christmas lights, supporting Sean Kingston, a St Tropez promotional tour and a few Butlins gigs at Minehead. So far 2010 has been a quiet year for them though with just three bookings: a charity performance and two private parties. Weirdly there have been no updates on their website, blog or Facebook since March when they stated that they were moving to London.

RUTH LORENZO (Came fifth in 2008)

Sexy senorita Ruth was a firm favourite of Simon Cowell’s (for obvious reasons) but surprisingly only made it to fifth place. Ruth has since left music company EMI due to ‘creative differences’ and has spent the past 2 years independently developing her album, citing to fans that she wants to ‘make an album that they deserve, not another expendable pop record that remains forgotten in time’. On her crusade, she is asking fans to donate money for the video and marketing budget of her debut single. So far she has raised $4,470 which equates to around £2408. Going by that sum, expect to be waiting around another 8 years for her album!

This year’s X Factor finalists are bringing even more variety to the show; from mini-Cheryl – we mean Cher, to teen heart throbs One Direction, emotional crooner Aiden, soul sensation Paije, crazy Wagner and many more. Fancy seeing this year’s X factor finalists perform live on tour? The 2011 X Factor Live extravaganza is set to be even bigger than ever. Don’t miss the chance to snap up your X Factor Live tickets and see this year’s winner and all X Factor finalists live on the X Factor Live stage.

With 21 shows over the dates 19th Feb 2011 – 6th April 2011, concert tickets are available for Birmingham LG Arena, Belfast Odyssey Arena, Sheffield Arena, London Wembley Arena, Manchester Evening News Arena, Brighton Centre, Nottingham Trent FM Arena, Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, Aberdeen Exhibition Centre, Glasgow SECC, and Cardiff International Arena. Search now for your chance to see all the action live from a stage near you!

View the original post X Factor: Andy Abraham, Ruth Lorenzo, Rhydian Roberts – Where Are They Now? on Unreality TV

Bad Lashes - X Factor 2008

JLS have stayed in touch with many of their X Factor pals from last year’s show, even going as far as to write a song for their one time rivals, Bad Lashes.

Bad Lashes were the first group voted off the show last year and they told BBC Newsbeat that JLS have penned them a track called ‘You Can’t Stop The Rain’.

Bad Lashes said: “We’re just really, really close with the boys and we always stayed in touch with them. Oritsé is really talented.

“We did a gig with them and he heard us and said, ‘You girls. You’re really gonna do well and I wanna write a song for you’. And he did. Thanks Oritsé! It’s a ballad.”

They added: “We’re just trying to step away from The X Factor. We know it was a brilliant platform but we’ve created our own phrase of the type of band we are.

“We’re not a girlband, we’re a vocal-heavy indie band. We just want to get our new sound out there and get loads of fans.”

View the original post JLS write song for Bad Lashes on Unreality TV

1. On Saturday night, Louis Walsh refuses to save the better girl group, Bad Lashes, allowing the public to make the final call between two of his groups.
2. Later claims that Louis excused himself by saying that he wasn’t as strong with female acts as he was with boybands.
3. The news that he and Kian Egan were auditioning for a new girl group as a showcase for Kian’s girlfriend Jodi Albert during the summer?

If you’re having trouble processing all of the above, can I suggest that a girl band achieving fame on X Factor might dwarf Louis’ ambitions to launch his own girl group.

Let’s see how long GirlBand last in this competition…

View the original post Dear readers, I smell an X Factor rat… on Unreality TV

JLS - X Factor 2008

Our spidey sense started tingling during Saturday night’s Xtra Factor show as JLS serenaded outgoing girl group, Bad Lashes….could there be romance in the air?

Today we had a chat with Sam Bennett from Bad Lashes and though she didn’t admit to any kissing or cuddling, I got the distinct impression that there is a strong bond between the two groups.

When asked if their were any sparks between her group and four piece boyband JLS, Sam giggled:

“I wish!!! The boys are all really gorgeous and single, but there was no romances in the house as far as I know”

When asked who she wanted to win the show Sam replied:

“JLS!!!!! the boys are so lovely and sooooo talented, they deserve to win.”

Sam also revealed that despite newspaper reports, there were no feuds or tensions in the X Factor house. No big blow up between Austin and Scott and no bullying behaviour between Rachel and Ruth. Just goes to show you can’t believe what you read in the papers!

View the original post X Factor 2008: Bad Lashes Romance With JLS? on Unreality TV

Axed X factor group, Bad Lashes have defended their mentor, Louis Walsh, for his indecisiveness on Saturday night’s show, which resulted in them getting the boot.

When Walsh was left with two acts in the bottom two, he decided to initialise a deadlock situation meaning that the decision would go to the public vote.

Sam Bennett from Bad Lashes told Unreality TV:

“I think Louis was really shocked when we ended up in the bottom two. We overheard him telling a journalist during the live show “I didn’t think that would happen”!”

“I understand why Louis didn’t vote for us, I couldn’t have chosen between our two acts if I was in his place. He was trying to be loyal but obviously I wish he had voted us through!”

View the original post X Factor: Bad Lashes Defend Louis Walsh on Unreality TV

Unreality TV was lucky enough to grab a quick chat with Sam Bennett from outgoing X Factor act, Bad Lashes this afternoon. Here’s what she had to say about their time on the show and what it’s like to leave it so early.

Did you expect to go out early in the competition? Based on Saturdays performances, who did you think would have been voted off?

“We are gutted that we left so early. We never expected to be the first to leave, we didn’t expect to win, but to be the first out is awful!”

“I thought everyone did really well on Saturday night, we were all nervous but everyone did a fantastic job. When I watched the show back I couldn’t even pick anyone for the bottom two”

Your mentor, Louis Walsh  originally described Bad Lashes as a bunch of hairdressers – do you think his opinion of you changed, and how was he as a mentor?

“I think Louis changed his opinion of us once he got to know us, we got along really well and even since we’ve left Louis has texted us a few times telling us to keep our chins up.”

“We were happy to have Louis as a mentor because he has so much experience of working with groups, we wouldn’t have wanted anyone else.

Did Louis pay more attention to JLS as has been reported?

“No, I think Louis spent equal amounts of time with all of us, he texted us all daily and kept in touch a lot. I don’t think he had a favourite.”

Who chose It Must Have Been Love? as your song for the live show? Do you think it suited your image?

“We are a very edgy girlband and wanted to chose a song that reflected that. A lot of the songs that we liked had only reached number two or three in the charts so we couldn’t sing them. We had to pick a number one single and even joked with the the idea of singing Mr Blobby or Bob The Builder!

“We thought ‘It Must Have Been Love’ had a bit of rockiness to it and thought it would appeal to the public. X Factor is a very commercial show, we had to make sure that the song we sang was one that the public would like. Obviously we hoped we would do a better job with it.”

It was reported in the newspapers that you accused  Simon of trying to fix the show by giving Scott a rubbish song  therefore gaining Scott the sympathy vote. Is there any truth in this?

“I loved the song Simon gave Scott on Saturday night and I see why he gave him it. We were all listening to Scott perform backstage and were all dancing and singing along. I think he did a fantastic job and sang brilliantly, that’s why he didn’t leave.”

GirlBand were the bookies favourite to go on Saturday night. Do you blame Louis for not voting for them?

“I think Louis was really shocked when we ended up in the bottom two. We overheard him telling a journalist during the live show “I didn’t think that would happen”!”

“I understand why Louis didn’t vote for us, I couldn’t have chosen between our two acts if I was in his place. He was trying to be loyal but obviously I wish he had voted us through!”

There are  lot of similarities between your group and and GirlBand – Did you get on well with them or was there a lot of rivalry behind the scenes?”

“There was absolutely no rivalry between us and girlband, in fact we got on like a house on fire! We were always swapping clothes and makeup tricks. Our time in the X Factor house was like one big girly sleepover. Girlband are really lovely and we hope they do well!

Why do you think two groups ended up in the bottom two this week? Why don’t the public vote for groups?

“Groups always do badly on the X Factor and I think its because the public don’t relate as well to them. People get to know solo artists and their stories, our group had four of us so the public didn’t know who we were really”

”I think X Factor should have its own show for groups, lets call it Group Factor and we can enter again!”

In the house – there have been rumours about fights between Austin and Scott and Rachel and Ruth? Is it a happy house or is there any truth in those rumours?

I never saw anything like that, everyone always seemed to get on well to me.

Were there any romances in the X Factor house this year? We noticed that JLS serenaded you on the Xtra Factor last  Saturday. Were there any romances or sparks?

I wish!!! The boys are all really gorgeous and single, but there was no romances in the house as far as I know”

Why did you decide to form a group for X Factor?

“It was Emily’s idea for us to form a group and go to the X Factor auditions. She and Sophie had gigged together a few times, they are the best singers in the band. I had done some theatre before but not much singing and Stacey is completely new to all of this. She used to be a makeup artist but her vocals and harmonies are really great now!”

“When we started off singing it was all a bit of fun but the further we got in the competition the more amazing it all became. I think it is an amazing achievement that we made it through to the final twelve.”

Emily seemed really gutted on Saturday night, how is she holding up now.

“Emily was devastated on Saturday night when we left because she has been trying to make it in this business for so many years and this was a big knock for her”

“Although Emily was the most upset on Saturday night, she is the strongest amongst us now. She keeps telling us all that we are going to go on gigging and that we will make it.”

What’s the future for Bad Lashes? Will you continue as a group? Have you had any offers since you’ve been voted off?

“We haven’t had any offers yet but it is early days and after performing on that stage on Saturday night in front of millions of people we all know how much we want this now!”

What were the high points of your X Factor experience and what were the low points?

“The high point was performing for the first time on Saturday night. It really inspired us to keep on going and we hope to be able to perform like that again at some stage.

The low point was obviously being booted off. I can’t believe it happened really”

Do you have a favourite act to win X Factor 2009?

“JLS!!!!! the boys are so lovely and sooooo talented, they deserve to win. I’d also like Diana Vickers to go far on the show, she’s a great girl with an amazing voice!”

Any gossip for the Michael Jackson week coming up – what would they have sung?

“We would have liked to sing BAD, but we hadn’t been given a song yet. I haven’t heard from any other acts what they’re doing b either.”

View the original post X Factor 2008: Interview With Bad Lashes on Unreality TV

Bad Lashes singer, Sophie Wilson, has accused X Factor judge Simon Cowell of trying to fix the public vote by giving his act, Scott Bruton a bad song.

Scott sang sixties song, Yeh Yeh, on Saturday night and spent more of the time between the main and results show crying because he got such a tongue lashing from the judges over the crappy track.

Bad Lashes star Sophie Wilson told The Daily Star: “Simon picked that rubbish song on purpose. He is clever.

“He knows that if you get backlash because someone is awful, the public will go: ‘Awww!’ and ring up and save him.

That’s what everyone did.”

View the original post Bad Lashes Accuse Simon Cowell Of Fixing X Factor Results on Unreality TV

Bad Lashes - X Factor 2008

X Factor rejects, Bad Lashes, have hit out at their mentor, Louis Walsh saying that he focused more on boyband JLS for the first live show.

The girls have revealed that they sought advice from Cheryl Cole on a few occasions and would have preferred the Girls Aloud singer as their mentor.

Bad Lashes member, Emily, told The Sun: “Louis said, ‘I know how boybands work. I’ve done it with Westlife, blah blah blah’. He said he managed Girls Aloud for a bit but wasn’t very good.”

When asked if Walsh had focused more on boyband JLS, Sam replied: “A little bit. He loves boy groups, that’s his thing.”

Sophie added: “He just chatted to them a little bit more. Louis generally is better with boybands.”

Stacey said: “He told us to listen to Cheryl, so she was kind of helping us and being a mentor a little bit.

“Maybe if we’d had Cheryl it could have been different.”

Emily added: “When we found out we’d got Louis I was a bit gutted. We all wanted Cheryl because obviously, being in Girls Aloud, she knows what she’s talking about. She’s done it all.

“She’s been in the same position as us with Popstars: The Rivals. She’s a woman, she’s close to our age, she knows our style.

“She said she knew what songs she’d have chosen for us. She got us straight away. I think Louis found us a bit harder to get.”

But Louis told The Sun last night: “Honestly, I love Bad Lashes.

“I tried to do something different with them, but even if I’d got them doing Riverdance backwards it wouldn’t have helped. I don’t know why, but girlbands don’t do well on the show — look at Hope and The Conway Sisters.

“I really want to help Bad Lashes. Let’s see what happens.”

View the original post X Factor: Bad Lashes Hit Out At Louis Walsh on Unreality TV

It was girl group against girl group tonight as GirlBand squared off against Bad Lashes.

In a new twist, the outgoing acts get to sing a different song to convince the public to keep them in the competition. GirlBand sang That’s What Friends Are For and Bad Lashes did a version of Wonderwall that they also sang during auditions.

Travesty! In a typical spineless moment, Louis Walsh gave up the ability to save Bad Lashes by allowing the public vote to decide who stayed. As a result, Bad Lashes left the show and the inferior Girlband got to stay another week.

Simon said “I thought they were both shocking to be honest. I’m sending home Bad Lashes”. Cheryl said “I’ve got a lot of respect for both of you, but I’m sending home Girlband.” Danni also voted for Girlband, and Louis decided to let the public decide.

In a deadlock situation, the earlier public vote is referred to and the act with the least votes leaves. Unfortunately, the public voted more for Girlband and Bad Lashes are out on their ear! They can console themselves with the news that the wonderful Unconventionals got booted last year before they got a proper hearing from the public.

Girlband say that they intend to up their game next week and plan to avoid being in the bottom two in the next week.

Over to you folks, what’s the verdict on tonight’s result? Are you glad Bad Lashes are out and who would you prefer to have left tonight?

View the original post Bad Lashes are the first act to leave X Factor 2008 on Unreality TV

Girlband - X Factor 2008

UPDATE: FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND GOSSIP ON GIRLBAND CLICK HERE

X Factor finalists Girlband have revealed that they are mightily p**sed off that they haven’t been given as much air time as their rivals on the show so far, but are sure that they have what it takes to wipe the floor with fellow girl group, Bad Lashes.

Member Layla Manoochehri told The Sun: “People at the moment just think there’s two girl bands and we’re the cr*p one.”

And fellow member Pheobe Lau said: “There’s only room in the competition for one girl band – and hopefully that’s us!

“We work so hard and are close with our harmonies so we think we are better than Bad Lashes.

“After all, it’s not a friendship competition, it’s a talent show.”

View the original post X Factor: Will Girlband Beat Bad Lashes? on Unreality TV